ShinKage Naruto
by Zero-noes
Summary: First fic! After graduation Naruto decides to learn the true and forgotten ways of the shinobi. With the help of a shadowy sensei, a sensual fox and his friends he will become the shadow of the shadows... No pairings yet..
1. Start of things to come

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Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto, Kishimoto does….♦♦

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**Hello everyone! I'm Zeronoes.**

**It's my first time writing a fic so please go easy on me, flames are welcome…I'm open suggestion and hopefully your words will help me improve better.**

**Well with that said please enjoy!**

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**Chapter 1 - 'The start of things to come'**

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"Congratulations Naruto you are now a genin of konoha!" Iruka declared after tying the hitae-ate around Naruto's forehead.

"Yatta! Arigatou Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled while hugging Iruka. The chuunin winced at the sudden pressure applied to his wounds. Naruto sensing this pulled back and scrathed the back of his head sheepishly "Hehe gomen Iruka-sensei, I got too excited."

Iruka sighed in relief when the pain lessened, then turned to look at Naruto, who was bouncing about at the clearing yelling how he was gonna be hokage, make the villagers and Sakura look at him with admiration and how he was gonna kick Sasuke's ass.

Fixing Naruto with a serious stare, Iruka cleared his throat loudly and called out to the blonde. "Naruto"

Naruto immediately walked closer to Iruka noticing the sudden change of expression on the young man's face and tone "What is it Iruka-sensei?" the boy asked uncertainly.

"Naruto now that you have graduated from the academy, you are now considered an adult, you can no longer goof off nor play pranks at people and most importantly you have to stop being a loud-mouthed idiot." Naruto glared angrily at Iruka and was about to protest, but the young man simply silenced him with a finger and continued "What I'm trying to say Naruto, is that you have to take your job as a shinobi seriously, you have lots of potential in the ways of a shinobi even more than Uchiha Sasuke"

The boy grinned proudly at Iruka's words "However with the way you are now they are just that, potential if you don't train it and improve it. A sensei can only help you so much to unlock your talents, but in the end it's all up to you." Iruka watched Naruto's facial expression as he switched from downcast to understanding. Iruka then made a quick check on his own body and found that most of the bleeding had stopped, including the one at his back due to blood clot, but he still felt a little light-headed and tired, so he just took a deep breath and continued to give Naruto his last 'lecture' "Remember Naruto a shinobi prides himself in stealth, deception and assassination, as an old shinobi saying goes 'born as a shadow, serves from the shadows, dies as a shadow' that's what a being ninja is Naruto." Iruka finished. Naruto though his brow was still furrowed nodded in understanding.

"One more thing Naruto…" Iruka hesitated "…I think…you should drop your 'mask'."

Naruto gave Iruka a puzzled look "Mask? Ano Iruka-sensei I'm not wearing a mask…"

"I'm not talking about those pieces of plastic or cloth; I know you're smart so I think you know what I'm talking about."Iruka replied.

Naruto looked down but did not respond.

Iruka just gave a small sigh, before smiling.

"Well that's that, do the village proud Naruto! Now come on let's bring the forbidden scroll back to hokage-sama." said Iruka as he shakily stood up.

Naruto nodded and then brought up his right hand up, a determined glint in his eyes "I promise Iruka-sensei, I will be the best shinobi there is and an even better Hokage!" he said with his usual grin in place.

Iruka grinned as well as the two made their way to the hokage's office.

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**Hokage's Office**

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Witnessing the exchange between teacher and student through his cystal ball, Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi couldn't help but smile. The sight of Iruka giving Naruto both a fatherly and shinobi advice was very moving for him because the boy who the rest of the village scorned had finally found someone who cares for him.

Puffing on his pipe, the old man sat back on his chair, the smile not leaving his face.

"_Now we shall see if the boy takes your words to heart."_

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**Next Morning**

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Naruto scrambled about in his apartment, trying to find clothes, arranging his bed and cook his ramen at the same time, he had overslept as the event last night had taken its toll on him. He promptly fell asleep the moment his body made contact with his bed, only to wake up hours later that he had fifteen minutes left before the academy starts.

"_Damn it! Damn it! I'm gonna be late! My first day as a gennin and I'm already late damn it!"_ thought Naruto, as he heated water for his instant ramen, while putting on his shinobi sandals which for some reason refused to allow his foot entry.

"Damn it! Why is it always the left!?" Naruto yelled to no one in particular. Gritting his teeth he pulled with all his might and at last the stubborn sandal gave way and his left foot slid in. Grinning at his success Naruto straightened up and was about grab the, by now whistling kettle when he noticed something.

He was still wearing his suit from last night…

Naruto nearly screamed and pull his hair out of frustration but the young boy managed to force himself to calm down as Iruka's words from last night came back to him. He needed to be an adult about this he can't let something such as a simple moring frustration get to him, he was a shinobi and they're supposed to be cool all the time.

As he calmed he quickly assessed his situation, first glance instinct told him he would need help. He shook his head _"I'm gonna help for this, but right now I'm the only one here and even if did ask I doubt those 'villagers' would help me…As _

_Iruka- sensei said, I can only help myself…but how…? How can I help myself…"_ Naruto's thought trailed off as the events of last night came flooding back to him_ "That's it!! Yes that's it!!! __**Kage Bunshin!**__ They helped me beat Mizuki-teme last night so…"_ his came hands quickly did the seal and he called out. **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"** there were three puffs of smoke and after they dispersed revealed three identical looking clones, who were grinning at him. The real Naruto grinned as well as he directed the clones to their duties. "Hehe alright you" he pointed to the clone at his left "Start making ramen you…" the clone at his front "Pick the clothes I'll wear and you…" he turned to the last clone and then faltered "You..Uh…go polish my hitae-ate!" the last clone raised an eyebrow, but nodded in response anyway.

Naruto watched as his clones got to work and whistled "Hehe...This is one USEFUL jutsu!" he exclaimed as he went to the shower.

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**6 minutes later**

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Naruto came out of the shower and immediately went to his bed where the clone had placed the clothes it selected for him to wear. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Instead of the usual blue and orange jumpsuit, the clone had pulled out a black jacket with dark orange on its side and matching dark orange pants. He remembered it was a gift from his birthday a year ago from the old hokage, the old man had told him that if he wishes to be hokage then he would need to understand the word 'kage' in it. Sandaime explained

that ninjas have to learn how to be a shadow and that meant stealth. Naruto at that time just whined about how 'gloomy' it looked and that he would not stand out, so refused to wear it and let it hand around his closet, it was almost forgetton too if not because his shadow clone pulling it out. He gave a small glare at the clone beside, who flinched at the look.

"A-ano…" the clone stammered for words "…Remember what Iruka-sensei said?" it finally asked.

Naruto frowned a little trying to remember the young man's words _"Remember Naruto a shinobi prides himself in stealth, deception and assassination, as an old shinobi saying goes 'born as a shadow, serves from the shadows, dies as a shadow' that's what a being ninja is."_

"_Stealth and shadow…huh...Iruka-sensei did say I should start taking my career seriously…Oh what the heck I'll just wear it. It's not like it doesn't have orange anyway."_ The blonde finally relented. He dispelled the clone at his side and began putting on his new 'outfit' after which he looked onto his closet again and fair a pair of fingerless gloves, which he had bought from a ninja store and strangely enough the owner didn't hate him and even gave him a huge discount. After he was done Naruto walked in front of his mirror.

"Hehe I look so cool!" said Naruto grinning at his own reflection, he struck various poses as he admired his new look and kept it up for a few minutes.

The fact that he was only 3 minutes away from being late was completely lost upon Naruto.

Seeing that their creator was not gonna stop anytime soon the two remaining clones cleared their throats loudly trying to get his attention.

Naruto stopped in mid-pose and looked at the clone who was polishing his hitae-ate and asked "What!? Can't you see I'm busy here!?"

"Ano…oyabun…" the clone trailed off and pointed to bedside alarm clock.

Naruto stared at it noting that aside from needing a good cleaning, there was nothing out of the ordinary. It's still the same old clock, with the red blinking ti—

"AW CRAP I'M GONNA BE LATE!!!" Naruto hollered. He ran about his apartment grabbing his hitae-ate, he quickly tied it around his head. At the kitchen he downed his cups of ramen the clone had prepared for him. After he was done he dashed towards his door and was already at the process of getting out when he stopped and looked at his clones that were still there.

"You two…um…clean this place! When your done dispel yourselves." Naruto ordered before running full speed to the academy.

Staring at cloud dust where their creator had been standing a while ago, both clones just turned to each other and shrugged.

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_**End chapter 1**_

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...crappy writing I know...but I promise it will get better(hopefully) next chapter!

oh yeah and I'm still creating my profile...

Read and Review please!


	2. Riot and Meetings

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Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto, Kishimoto does….♦♦

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**Here it is second chapter of 'Shinkage Naruto'!**

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**Chapter 2 – 'Riots and Meetings'**

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Academy students were chatting happily with each other. Today was their first day as gennins and they were excited to find out who their teammates would be, as Iruka had told them the day before that they would be placed in teams of three. None showed concern for the lack of a certain orange-wearing-blonde, after all only those who graduated would be here so they were not surprised, almost all of them except one.

Hyuuga Hinata was secretly praying that her crush would pass this year and hoping even more that they are on same team.

Noticing the absence of his loud voice and orange jumpsuit however, Hinata knew that Naruto would probably be on the academy playground again, sitting on his favorite swing, looking down on the ground, his eyes sad and lacking life, with no one to comfort him of his loss…

"Yo, Hinata! What's up? You're looking kinda down." inquired a boy with red stripes on his cheek and a small puppy sticking out of his jacket. He was Inuzuka Kiba.

"N-no...I-I'm fine…K-Kiba-kun…" Hinata blushed, embarassed from having her musings caught and interrupted.

The boy looked doubtful for moment, before shrugging and resumed chatting with his friend.

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**A few minutes passed by…**

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The sound of the door opening had all graduates turning around and looking. Iruka entered holding a small folder on his hands, closed the door behind him, walked briskly to his desk, laid the folder onto it and then turning to his, now former students he gave them all a smile.

"Good Morning _gennins_!" he greeted while emphasizing on the gennin part. The class erupted into a loud cheer, well almost all of them, Uchiha Sasuke just smirked, Auburame Shino merely nodded, Akimichi Chouji can't be disturbed from eating his chips, Nara Shikamaru was still sleeping and Hyuuga Hinata just gave off a small squeak.

Iruka shook his head a bit trying to clear the ringing from his ears, though a bit surprised it wasn't as loud as he expected. His eyes scanned the room and with a frown finally noticed the absence of his favorite student.

"_The hell!? After my cool speech and his promise last night now he has the nerve to show up late!?...sigh So much for Naruto maturing…"_ Iruka thought a bit disappointed with Naruto. He glanced at the door before clearing his throat and turning to the new _gennins_.

"Let me say this; I'm proud of you all for completing your time in the academy, hopefully you have learned something from me as I have learned something from each and everyone one of you. You all have great potential and your days at the academy were the firs—. "A vein appeared on Iruka's forehead as he realized that his _cool _and _hardworked_ speech was being blatantly _ignored_.

The students merrily chatted with each other or in Sasuke's case a fangirl harassing the poor Uchiha while bickering with another fangirl.

The young man showed great suppression over his anger as he forced himself to calm down, he sighed, times like this makes him wonder why he became an academy teacher.Clearing his throat for a second time, though this one is out of irritation, Iruka opened the folder on his desk and took out a sheet of paper. "Alright, I'll just announce the teams."

At this the gennins quited down and straightened on their seats, all attention on Iruka, even Sasuke's fangirls stopped arguing and turned their attention to their sensei, eager to know who would be on the Uchiha's team.

Another vein made itself visible, as Iruka resisted the urge to turn the paper he was holding, into shreds.Clearing his throat for the third time in a span of a few minutes, he glanced around to make sure everyone was listening(quite unnecessary) and began:

"Team 1…." He read off the names from the list and continued all the way to "…Team 7: Uchi—"Iruka was interrupted when the door burst open and before it stood Uzumaki Naruto.

Most the class were surprised at the blonde's new look, gone was the bright orange jumpsuit, now replaced with black and dark orange. However the one thing that truly shocked the newly graduates was the konoha headband on his forehead, as they had seen and heard Iruka as he said 'you fail'.

Iruka however, glared at the whiskered boy "BAKA! You're late!"

Naruto grinned while scratching the back of his sheepishly "Hehe…gomen, I guess overslept…"

Iruka opened his mouth once more, either to berate the blonde or tell him to sit down but it didn't matter. Haruno Sakura chose that moment to interrupt.

"Ano, Iruka-sensei didn't Naruto no baka failed the test yesterday?" she asked "Why is he here?"

"_**Shannaro! He better not get in our way to Sasuke-kun!"**_ inner-Sakura screamed.

"Doushite Sakura-chan expecting that I would fail?" Naruto asked before Iruka could respond.

The bubblegum-haired girl fixed him with a glare "Of course! Deadlasts can't pass!" She received a few shouts of support from the other gennins.

Naruto brushed off her glare with a small wave "Well Iruka-sensei gave me another shot at the test and I passed, since this year is my last chance in the academy, if I fail I would be expelled, So I begged and begged until he gave me another chance, Iruka-sensei is strict Sakura-chan but not heartless."He grinned at his teacher "Though if I flunked this one it's really bye-bye hokage title for me."

Iruka could only nod as Naruto explained his sudden 'passing'. He saw the boy turned to his right, so his back was facing his fellow gennins and mouthed to him the word 'uso' (lie).

Naruto inwardly laughed as he saw his favorite teacher nod again to him and flash a discreet, almost unnoticable smile before turning back to the flabbergasted girl. He blessed his recent lie as he saw its effect. Not only did the students accept it even Iruka himself agreed to it!

"_Iruka-sensei probably thinks that the reason I was late is because I had to create that story"_ He thought still grinning.

His grin grew wider as he saw Iruka nodding to himself, as though to confirm his story.In truth he was late because he woke up late. He passed because he helped in retrieving the Forbidden Scroll and Sandaime instructed not to tell anyone nor talk about it in public.

A lie within a lie.

He saw Sakura opened her mouth once more, perhaps still not convinced but it didn't matter. He had done his part, now it was Iruka's turn.

If this is how deception is supposed to be then he knew he would love it.

He remembered Iruka's words about his 'mask' and frowned a little, he knew that sooner or late he would have to remove it, but the 'mask' had become integrated to much his daily routine as he used it everday to defend himself against the villagers cold glares, it became his shield his own sense of comfort through his hardships as an orphan who lives all by himself while enduring the villagers scorn, if he dropped it now, it would be like losing part of himself, but he needed to focus on his ninja career now and his true self would be more than qualified for it: silent, smart and crafty…

Something clicked in Naruto's head. The mask gave him the personality of blonde idiot, who loves to play pranks on people and the villagers started viewing him as such, lessening the glares. It covered himself perfectly that they never even got a glimpse of the person underneath.

If it worked on the villagers, would it work on enemy shinobi as well?

Granted Iruka and old man Sarutobi could see through it but that's because they knew him for a long time and spent enough time with to tell that he was not always what he showed, but others surely won't know anything about him and unless they're mind readers or just have very good sense of character, then yeah it would prove useless but the chances of finding people, much less a shinobi like that are a bit slim.

With that Naruto decided to keep mask, he would no longer 'live' in it like before, rather he would use it as a weapon against friend or foe. If they fell for it, well too damn bad. Besides deception is, as Iruka and Sandaime himself said, part of the life of a shinobi.

Ah, the art of deception, he would definitely come to love it.

"Demo(but) Iruka-sensei…" Sakura whined, Naruto raised an eyebrow, she still didn't believe? Man this girl is going to be a handful.

Iruka sighed, his pink-haired ex-student just didn't know when to quit.(as if the constant chasing of a certain Uchiha wasn't proof of that) He opened his mouth intent on dismissing the subject but Naruto beat him to it.

Deciding on annoying the poor girl his masked self liked so much Naruto adopted a look of pleading and admiration "Doushite(why) Sakura-chan? You know I just can't leave you like that! It would break my heart! I would go over oceans and crawl underneath mountains just for you! I'll even go up in to the sky and give you the moon. If you want, when I become Hokage I'll make you my queen to be treated with respect and admiration that rivals a Hokage, I'll even give you a title 'The Heart of Konoha'!" He said with high-clipped tone and one of mockery.

Nearly all of the new graduates went bug-eyed as the blonde expressed his devotion and admiration to his 'beloved' Sakura-chan.

Sakura, having missed the mockery in his tone could only look horrified at his 'devotion' for her. Now if it was Sasuke, saying those words she would have jumped to his arms, gazing lovingly to his onyx eyes as their faces come closer, all the while holding a signboard proclaiming 'true love conquers all!' behind him and waving it infront of the disbelieving looks of the other fangirls, especially Ino…

_If_ it was Sasuke.

Unfortunately fate would have one Uzumaki Naruto to say such things, even if he did not mean what he said. So Sakura settled on the best course of action(to her), bad mouthing Naruto while hanging from Sasuke's crossed arms, who to her delight and his annoyance happened to be sitting next to her. Though it would be better to say that she 'won' the seat next to him when the fangirls had small rumble to determine who would sit next to their 'Sasuke-sama'.

Iruka's ears were already hurting from the pink-haired girl's screeching when the other members of the Uchiha fanclub joined her. The young man was already clutching his ears in pain as with the rest of the class—no bigger, the rest of the academy, wondering when the hell the ninja academy did became a breeding ground for bats. Before Iruka could gain some semblance of control however, the situation just got a whole lot worse when the crazed fans no longer directed their ire to Naruto but to each other, their vocies had risen to five more decibels, each arguing for a trivial reason or another, ranging from the Uchiha's boxers design print to his eyelash length. The poor boy opted to bang his head on his desk while attempting, with much difficulty, to tune out the banshee next to him, who was still clinging to his arm.

A dangerous position to be for both of them.

A nameless fangirl gasped loudly, too loud in Sasuke's opinion, at the position the two were in or specifically, the hooked arm of the Uchiha survivor, courtesy of Sakura and like a crash site it attracted everyone else's attention.

The noise level of the room had suddenly gone from a war zone to forest filled with silent predators.

Noticing the sudden change of atmosphere, Sasuke tried to pull away his arm without lowering his dignity and pride, which resulted in a soft but forceful tugging. Sakura however mistook it as an act of protection and possessiveness. She squeeled, as clinging turned into glomping, much to Sasuke and the SFC's (Sasuke Fan Club) chagrin. The SFC were now gritting their teeth, clenching their fists in anger, CFAs (Crazed Fangirl Aura) flaring wildly at the pink-haired girl's actions. Sasuke noticing the aura's and the fact that girls were inching closer, decided to throw away his pride as he, now desperately tried to pull away from Sakura's vice-like grip on him.

Iruka had enough, first his prepared speech was ignored, and then Naruto comes late, now an SFC riot is breaking out.

Now he really wonders why he took up teaching. He turned at Naruto who had not moved from his spot by the door, watching the whole scene infront of him, while wearing an odd grin. The blonde noticed the look Iruka was giving and shrugged in response before turning back to the Uchiha's torture scene.

"Alright settle down everyone!" Iruka yelled.

No reaction.

"Come on straighten up so I can finish reading the teams!" He tried again.

The other graduates had straightened in their seats their attention on Iruka, still no reaction from the SFC.

Irritated, Iruka used his trump card. "Fine, I can see you don't want to know wether or not you're going to be on Sasuke's team".

It got through, the auras disappeared, as the SFC's blinked and then immediately rushed to their seats each silently praying, hoping, and doing voodoo rituals just to ensure that they are on the Uchiha's team.

Iruka sighed both disappointed and irritated at them. Disappointed because they don't take their career as kunoichis of Konoha seriously, thinking of the shinobi world as one big love story. Irritated, because of jealousy since he (to his knowledge) doesn't have a fan club. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Naruto hadn't moved an inch and was still standing there, arms crossed waiting for something.

Iruka raised an eyebrow "Sit down Naruto"

"No thanks, I'll just stand." the blonde said as he shook his head. "By the way Iruka-sensei what team am I in?" He asked next.

"I was about to get to that before I was interrupted." Iruka replied.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Hehe gomen."

Iruka shook his head as he sighed "Naruto." He adjusted his posture as he addressed the rest of gennins looking at the paper in his hands. "Now where was I…? Oh right, Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto" a groan of annoyance was heard from the two "and Haruno Sakura" the annoyance turned to despair, though this time both boys were joined by the rest of the SFC, as the pink-haired girl cheered and started blabbering about true love.

Iruka heaved a long sigh; he had a bad feeling about this…

He knew he jinxed it when there was an uproar from the SFC…

_Oh boy…_

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**Hours later…**

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The newly formed Team 7 sighed for umpteenth time, waiting for their jounin-sensei to arrive. Iruka told them to wait for their respective teachers here, as they grouped themselves according to their teams, before leaving them hours ago. One by one Team 7 watched as a jounin arrived to pick up their teams, the class' numbers slowly dwindling at every 15 minutes or so, to the point they are the only ones left giving the impression that they're the ones who failed. Thinking that their jounin-sensei was just late, they laid back on their on way and relaxed or in Sasuke's case tried to.

The pink-haired chatter box next to him doesn't seem to have an off button worse; its batteries are fully-charged promising hours of endless blabbering. It seemed the more he ignored her, the more enthusiastic she gets, though the better would probably be _fanatic_.He briefly considered telling her to leave him alone and go bother someone else, however further consideration of her ability misinterpret things from him, he immediately squashed the idea, so settled on brooding trying to drown out her voice with thinking up of ways on how to kill his brother.

Naruto on the other hand is currently asleep on top of the teacher's desk, mouth open with a bit drool coming out much to Sakura's disgust. Even if half of his body was hanging from the table edge it did nothing to remove him from dreamland. He had spent an entire hour pacing around the entire room thinking up of ways on how to use his kage bunshins to their fullest potential.It was also around this time when a surge of information flowed through and into his mind, telling him the clones he had left at his apartment had completed their task.

Surprised at this sudden development, he decided to do a little experiment, thus went out with the reason he needed to go to the bathroom, while closing the door of classroom Naruto could have sworn that if Sasuke could beg, he would have done so already, clearly horrified at the idea of being left alone with the most obsessive fangirl of his club. Laughing Naruto just ignored the look Sasuke was giving him which seemed to be a cross between pleading, indifference and superiorty. After leaving the class vicinity, the blonde immediately set out to find anything that could help him with his research, finally finding notice board with all sorts of announcements at the academy auditorium. He created five clones one for each notice on the board, with instructions to dispel themselves simultaneously after reading, before hurrying back to his classroom. Though he was a little disappointed to see that their jounin-sensei is still yet to arrive, he paced around the room again, eager to know the result of his experiment. A few minutes later a strong surge information assaulted him giving a slight headache, but he grinned nonetheless at his success. He deduced that whatever the clones learn it is passed to its creator when dispelled. Though he wondered why he never felt gained information from his clones when they were beating up Mizuki-teme.

"_Probably because were all set on one thing"_ He laughed inwardly _"Haha this really is one cool jutsu!"_

Ignoring the incredolous looks his teammates were giving him, mostly due to the odd grin he was wearing, he sat on Iruka's desk, then upon reconsideration laid on it, much to Sakura's anger. She was about to berate him when he interrupted her saying that Sasuke wants to talk to her, completely taking her attention off him much to the to the Uchiha's irate and dismay.

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**Academy Corridors**

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Hatake Kakashi was in a very good mood, the sun had risen to its highest point of the day and Icha Icha was still as good as ever, however if there was anything that truly made his day, it was the fact that he had another gennin team fail.

Kakashi was well known amongst his jounin peers, due to his fighting ability, his dedication as a shinobi, his lateness, his habit of reading the Icha Icha series _everywhere_ (there was a rumor that Kakashi had finally found a way to read his favorite book whilst sleeping) and that not a single gennin team that was presented to him has ever passed his test.

However this does not mean he takes any form pleasure from failing his to-be students, it's just that not one has passed his test yet. He secretly wished his new team would pass, but from the way the younger generation viewed the shinobi world as a place where all that matters are fancy jutsus or, in the kunoichis case a date with the academy hearthrob, he doubted it would be any time soon. When pondered about deeply, one could deduce Kakashi's actions as an act of humanity, he knew as an elite shinobi, which the cruelties and harsh realities of the shinobi world would break the younger generation when they discover the world of the shinobi is not as they envisioned it.

Stopping infront of the door to the classroom. He contemplated wether to just greet them the normal way or pop in inside and take them by surprise. Settling on the former he reached for the handle and prepared to slide door open.

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**Inside…**

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Team 7 watched as the door slid open revealing a man in his twenties, he had long silver hair that spiked upwards before falling slightly on its side, a face mask that covered half of his face and his hitae-ate was covering his left eye.

His visible eye studied them thoroughly.

"My first impression of you…I don't like you" he said in a way of greeting. "Sorry I'm late; I had to save a turtle from drowning at the river and later give it CPR"

An awkward silence filled the room, as Team 7 sweatdropped at the pathetic excuse.

"Wow, even the turtle itself could tell it's pathetic." Naruto commented to his teammates.

The jounin laughed lightly "Meet on the roof in 5 minutes" he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Tired and hungry Team 7 begrudgingly made their to the academy roof.

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**Academy: Rooftop**

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"Alright why don't you introduce yourselves, say your name, likes, dislikes and your dream" said Kakashi as they sat crosslegged and formed a small circle. There was nothing wrong in getting to know them right?

"Ano, shouldn't you go first sensei?" the pink-haired girl asked.

Kakashi blinked "Me? Hmm…I'm Hatake Kakashi; I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes, as for my dream…well I have hobbies." He concluded, his visible eye closed in a smile.

"All we learned is his name!" Sakura hissed at Sasuke.

"Pinky your turn" She glared at the nickname, before standing up.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, I like…" She trailed off and looked at Sasuke "I dislike Ino-pig and my dream…" trailing off again she looked at Sasuke dreamly, before sitting back down albeit closer to the Uchiha.

"_A fangirl hating another fangirl not surprising…great…"_ Kakashi thought "Moody your up!"

Not bothering to stand up Sasuke spoke in a cold tone "Uchiha Sasuke, I like nothing and dislike everything, my dream…no my ambition is to kill a certain man and revive my clan."

"_Wow a wannabe avenger, complete with the not liking anything package" _"Blondie go"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but something about the man kept nagging at him, something about the way he reacted to their introductions, or more specifically their likes and dislikes.

"I'm not planning to wait for one year you know" Kakashi prompted.

Naruto grinned as he finally realized what Kakashi was _asking_, so he stood up and cleared his throat before introducing himself "Uzumaki Naruto, I _used_ to like pranking people, I _still_ dislike people who can't see something for what it truly is and the three minutes for ramen to cook, my dream is to become a great shinobi and an even better hokage!"

Underneath the mask Kakashi smiled_ "So the deadlast figured out what I meant…interesting…doesn't mean he'll pass though"_ he thought before standing up.

"Alright, now that's over with meet me at training field seven at six'o clock tomorrow morning, we have survival training to do" he told them.

"Eh!? Kakashi-sensei we already did that at the academy" Kakashi chuckled "What's so funny!?"

"Sorry it's just you're gonna flip when you hear this" He paused for dramatic effect "Did you know that out of all the graduates only nine would be made gennins?" He savored the looks of confusion which slowly turned to horror at their faces.

"What the hell!? Aren't we gennin already!? We took a test for that!" Naruto exclaimed

Kakashi shook his head "Nope that was just to see if you're _qualified_ to be gennins, the real test will be given by the jounin instructor of each team." He said good-naturedly much to their dismay.

"_I made the wrong conclusion about him…damn…and I thought a graduate finally had the right mind set…oh well"_ Kakashi thought before continuing "Anyone who fails tomorrow will be sent back to the academy."

Naruto and Sakura were looking at him in disbelief, mouths agape, while Sasuke's eyes widened at the news, but the jounin wasn't done yet. "Even better this exam has a failure rate of sixty-six point six percent."

"WHAT!?" two out of the three runts yelled.

Kakashi pulled out his orange book, before walking away "Oh and don't eat breakfast if you don't wan't to throw up 'kay?" he reminded as he disappeared.

"EEEEHHHHHHH!!?"

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**END**

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Poor Naruto just when he thought he was one step closer to his dream….

To those who are wondering, Kakashi meant "Are you ready to give up you childish likes and dislikes?" The dream he left alone because dreams could serve well as a motivation to do hard and well.

And Naruto's answer means he's ready but he just can't ignore the villagers.

Probably lots of errors and grammatical errors in this chapter, I'll try to correct them when I have the time.

Ja,Ne! Happy Valentines everyone!


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